All's Fair (in Love and War)
by soulfulsin
Summary: AU of the Moonvasion. Lunaris has captured the Duck family (and Webby) and uses them as a lure to bring Scrooge into his final showdown.
1. Coup de Grace

Chapter 1: Coup de Grace

_Borrowed directly from French and first appearing in English at the end of the 17th century, "__**coup de grâce**__" (literally, a "stroke of __**grace**__" or "blow of mercy") originally referred to a mercy killing, or the act of putting to death a person or animal who was severely injured and unlikely to recover._

* * *

In retrospect, it hadn't been that difficult to capture her and her children. They'd been sitting ducks, literally, moored on the desert island, when Lunaris's loyal subjects had brought them to his attention. While Lunaris's true objective remained Scrooge, capturing Della Duck, Donald Duck, the triplets, and the wildcard child marked a good second. At present, they were languishly in a prison on the moon, because he had no intention of letting them communicate with Scrooge or plan an escape.

As for the traitor, Penumbra? She was awaiting trial for treason. At present, she was in a cell further down from the Duck family, but she was bound and gagged. Lunaris didn't want her spilling the beans about anything or possibly helping the Duck family escape. Besides...he hated traitors. Her betrayal had left a sour taste in his mouth and he wanted it gone, along with her.

Lunaris wanted Scrooge to come to him, wanted to watch him beg for his family's lives. Of course, Lunaris wouldn't spare them-what would be the point?-but it'd be entertaining to see the great Scrooge McDuck plead for mercy. That was part of why he hated him so much. Scrooge was so well known and so damn arrogant. Blocking Della's transmissions and keeping her from rescue was one thing that he knew would hurt both of them-Scrooge wouldn't know if his niece was alive or dead. But it wasn't enough, on its own. Lunaris had a bloodthirst that couldn't be quenched.

He would check on the prisoners later. He had business that couldn't be delayed.

* * *

"We're okay," Della informed them. "We're gonna be just fine, kids."

Della was holding it together by a thread and that thread grew ever thinner. She glanced at her twin brother; she couldn't even be grateful he was here, because her anxiety levels had skyrocketed. Poor choice of words. She worked on controlling her breathing, because if she freaked out, the kids would freak out. And although the kids seemed pretty calm right now, that could change in an instant.

"I swear, we'll be just fine," Della continued, though she was more trying to reassure herself than them at this point.

"Um, Mom? You've been saying that for the last fifteen minutes," Huey said. Della's eyelid twitched. "Are you sure _you're _all right?"

"I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine. Everything's fine. Fine, fine, fine," she said, her eyelid twitching harder.

"Della?" Donald asked and put an arm about her shoulders. "Della, breathe."

"Everything's gonna be-"

"If you say 'fine' again, I'm gonna scream," Louie announced. He was pacing the cell and glancing around, no doubt trying to ascertain where the exits might be. They appeared to have been placed in a cell with a large hole in the wall, Della didn't have time to worry about that, though. She was in panic mode and her brain seemed to have screeched to a halt.

"Breathe," Donald exhorted his twin. "Sit down and take several deep breaths. It's gonna be okay."

It was odd to be calmed down by Donald, of all people, but she felt safer around him than she did trying to comfort four children. And to be perfectly honest, she wasn't doing much of the latter, anyway. Webby had gone to inspect a corner of the cell along with Huey and Louie and all three looked contemplative, which Della hoped was a good thing and not a sign that they were going as crazy as she was.

"That's interesting," Huey said. "It looks like the wall is weak over here."

"So maybe a well-placed kick…?" Webby said, backing up and preparing to do just that.

A shot of electricity ran through the cell and Dewey tackled Webby before she got hit. Puzzled, Webby looked up at the middle triplet and then over to the threat looming beyond the bars. Lunaris had returned to keep an eye on them. He swept a cool, calculating gaze over the cell and his sneer seemed especially marked for Webby.

"I don't need all four of the children," Lunaris announced in a cold voice. "Take the girl away. She's not a Duck child."

Two guards approached the cell and Webby snarled, assuming an offensive position. Della, Donald, and the triplets rushed in front of her to protect her. Della's heart pounded.

"You're not getting your hands on any of the kids," Della snapped. Her blood was up and she glared at Lunaris.

"I don't know why you care what befalls her," Lunaris remarked in an unaffected tone. Della snarled and she and Donald glowered at the moon leader. "She's not related to you."

He snapped his fingers and said, louder, "Take the girl away."

"You'll have to open the cell to do that," Della warned. Lunaris snapped his fingers again and more guards appeared. There were at least six in the holding area and more were coming. Della knew that Mrs. Beakley had trained Webby, which meant the moonlanders stood two chances-slim and none. But that didn't mean that she wanted to see Webby hurt.

"I don't think that'll be a problem," Lunaris crooned. Soon, there were twelve guards in the holding area. "Take her."

The cell opened and the twins surged into action, jumping the guards and avoiding laser blasts. Webby ducked and weaved, moving so rapidly that she was almost a blur. Della couldn't keep track of her and fight her own battles, so she hoped that Webby did well and paid more attention to kicking away the guards.

Lunaris waded into the battle too and Della snarled, trying to reach him. Someone grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back. She heard Penumbra screaming beyond her gag, but there was nothing Penumbra could do.

Lunaris snagged Webby by the hair and she kicked him in the face. Six guards trained their guns on Webby and drew a bead. It felt like everything slowed down and there was no time and all the time in the world.

The laser blasts came and in a blaze of fire, Webby spun away. The triplets knocked away a couple of guards, but not enough. One blast caught Webby in the leg and the guard grabbed her. Webby hissed in pain.

"She's useless," Lunaris announced. "Get rid of her."


	2. Acceptable Losses

Chapter Two: Acceptable Losses

_"An acceptable loss, also known as acceptable damage, is a military euphemism used to indicate casualties or destruction inflicted by the enemy that is considered minor or tolerable."_

* * *

It had taken five people to subdue the child. Lunaris was not pleased. In the end, the girl had needed to be bound, restrained, and then, for extra measure, chained. The guards had removed her and put her underground, where the mite had lived. As she was, she should be easy prey for it. Besides, as he'd repeatedly told the Duck family, she was not related to Scrooge McDuck. Therefore, she was an acceptable casualty.

After all, in war, things happen. And she was a spare, a loose end he didn't need. Lunaris stalked away from the underground chamber and back toward the Duck family, who had also needed to be subdued. They'd required electric shocks to prevent them from going after the girl, which he thought was patently absurd. He didn't understand why they should care what befell her.

As a result of their aberrant behavior, the whole family was bound but not gagged. Della's eyes blazed defiance and hatred as he approached the cell. Dewford went so far as to spit at Lunaris's feet. If he recalled correctly from his intel, Dewford had felt particular attachment to the girl. All the boys did, but he was the closest to her. It was just another fact he filed away, of no use to him now.

"What did you do to her?" Dewford snapped.

"Where is she?" Hubert added.

"You'd better not have hurt her," Llewellyn warned.

"Webbigail Vanderquack no longer poses a problem," Lunaris said smoothly. He let the import of his words sink in and smiled, enjoying the way they hit the adults first and then the boys. Dewford growled, sitting upright and attempting to stand despite being bound at the ankles and with his wrists tied behind his back.

"What did you do to her, you monster?" Dewford demanded.

"Oh, she's alive," Lunaris said, smirking. "For now."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Della snapped.

"It means, dear Della, that she's serving as bait for the moon mites," Lunaris replied. "I bound her to a spare piece of metal from the Spear of Selene and now we wait."

Della blanched. The others looked to her for further information and for a minute, she seemed too horrorstruck to reply.

"Wait?" Hubert said. "Wait for what?"

Della roared, attempting to no avail to undo her restraints. She rammed her head into the bars and, despite her eyes watering, did it again. Donald picked up on her distress and joined her, followed by the boys. Lunaris laughed. Did they really think they were going to budge the bars? Llewellyn was the only one not doing so; instead, he appeared to be surveying the room. Something about the way the boy was contemplating the angles made Lunaris unaccountably nervous.

Instead of jumping the bars, he nodded to Hubert and they charged at the other side of the lock. It buckled at their attack and Lunaris growled, snapping his fingers to bring more Moonlanders to stop them. The Moonlander guards faltered.

"What?" Lunaris spat. "Why are you hesitating? Attack them."

"Commander Lunaris...what did you do to that girl child?" One of them ventured, a fat man who had no right to question him.

"She is the enemy. You saw how she took down our guards. She would stop at nothing to destroy us. The same holds true for the Duck family. Now, do as I say or face the consequences."

"Don't," Della implored. "Don't do as he says. He lied to you. He said that the Earth planned to invade the moon-we've thought the moon was uninhabited. And even if we didn't, we never would've attacked you guys. I swear it.

"I don't know why you're mad at me, but you can't listen to him. He's insane."

"Listen to her attempting to gaslight you and trick you," Lunaris said. "She is trying to manipulate you. You shouldn't listen to her."

"He wants to send an innocent child to her death!" Della said and then his full plan dawned on her. She rammed the bars so hard that they jumped in their sockets. He blinked. Those bars had been built to withstand sieges. How could they budge due to a single Earthling's fury?

"Please," she said, shaking her head. She must've given herself a headache. "This is wrong. Surely you can see this is wrong."

"You can't believe anything she says," Lunaris said flatly. "They're liars, every one of them."

"You're the one lying!" Dewford snapped.

Llewellyn appeared to be counting bars and then he pointed at one. As a unit, the triplets charged the second to the rightmost bar and it jumped in its socket, moving out a few inches, but that was enough to possibly move all of them with the right pressure. It was unacceptable. Lunaris snapped his fingers again and finally, finally, the guards shot the boys into submission. Della and Donald squawked in outrage, Della rushing to her children while Donald's eyes blazed in fury and hatred.

Donald rushed the bars furiously, the look in his eyes no longer entirely sane. He scrambled at them and then went back to banging his head at the hole in the wall until it cracked. He chewed his Oxy-Chew as he did so-they'd given enough to all the children and adults, because it'd be no fun if they died of oxygen deprivation before Lunaris was done with them.

"You'll pay for this," Della vowed in a low, angry tone. She clutched the triplets to her.

Lunaris laughed. "Just be glad I need you all alive before Scrooge McDuck arrives. Unlike Webbigail."

Donald squawked again and the hole grew larger. He ducked the blasts from Lunaris's guards and broke his way out. No matter. He couldn't run very far and he definitely wouldn't be able to find Webbigail. Lunaris wasn't worried.

"Let him go," he advised the guards. "But follow him at a discrete distance. If he does find the girl, kill her."

* * *

Donald pelted through the moon's landscape. Lunaris had told them where Webby was, but not her exact location. Unfortunately, that left a lot of terrain to cover. He also had to lose his entourage before they attacked him or Webby. Webby wasn't his niece, no, but the boys cared a great deal for her and Donald had grown to feel similarly in the last year. He wished he knew what Lunaris had meant by tying Webby to a piece of metal from the ship.

He couldn't risk calling to her until he was underground. He felt sick having left the boys to Lunaris, but he wouldn't kill them. For whatever reason, Lunaris needed Della and his nephews alive. Webby was extraneous. How could the Moonlanders support someone like that? For goodness' sake, he wanted to murder a child. In cold blood, no less.

Lunaris had miscalculated, though. He knew Uncle Scrooge cared about Webby too, even if he'd never formally apologized for saying she wasn't family. (The boys had told him about the Sunchaser incident, as it came to be called). Then again, Scrooge had difficulties with apologies. A very proud man, Scrooge McDuck seldom retracted his statements or showed remorse for his actions.

Oh, man, if Mrs. Beakley discovered that her granddaughter was in this kind of trouble, she'd kill them herself. He wished she hadn't been left behind on Earth.

He knew Della could take care of the triplets-she'd done so in his absence-but that didn't mean he felt good about leaving them so soon after reuniting with them. His unease grew-he was torn between Webby and the triplets. But the triplets weren't in imminent danger, as he reminded himself. What was a moon mite, anyway? Why had Della blanched when Lunaris had mentioned it?

Losing his entourage might be harder than he thought. After all, they knew the terrain and he wasn't thinking too clearly, as he didn't when he was furious. He kept thinking of Webby imperiled ("the kids!") and how whatever situation she was in must be pretty bad if she couldn't fight her way out of it. He had to have faith she could before he reached her, but he knew that chances were she couldn't.

That begged the question of what kind of trap Lunaris had set that Webby couldn't break her way out of. He must have planned for every eventuality. His blood boiled thinking of what might be happening with the boys and his sister right now. Even if Della was their mother, he'd been taking care of them for so long that he'd begun to feel like he was their parent too.

The featureless plains didn't leave much room for hiding and the further out he went, the more difficult he found it to ditch the guards. At least the Oxy-Chew still tasted good. It had held its flavor nicely. Then again, he was one of the rare people who enjoyed black licorice.

It was odd. No matter where he went or how far he traveled, the guards remained the same distance away and never called out to him. He was too angry to be suspicious, though perhaps he ought to have been.

At long last, he stumbled upon where he thought the Spear must've crashed a decade ago. There was a large hole nearby and he slipped underground, all the while aware that his guards remained ten steps back. The back of his neck prickled with sweat.

"Webby?" he called and it echoed. "Webby!"

Of course, she could be anywhere and rage and urgency lent speed to his searching. The guards were getting closer, too, but there were plenty of places to hide underground, plenty of nooks and crannies that Donald could just squeeze himself into. It was within one such hole that he heard muffled screaming.

"Webby!" he cried. There was a thud and he fled his bolthole to discover the guards standing right next to him. He couldn't see his honorary fourth-nephew/niece, but he could hear her muffled cries. Snarling, undeterred by the laser guns aimed at him, he sprang into action, prompting two of the guards to shoot each other instead of him.

The fourth guard grabbed him by his tail feathers and he kicked them in the face. He had to get to Webby. Four against one was nothing when his blood was up.

"We're gonna need back-up!" the third guard cried into a communication device that Donald kicked away. If he were a dragon, he would've been breathing fire. As it was, his face was scarlet and he was quivering. No one was going to stand between him and his objective.

He knocked the last guard out, stole his gun for good measure, and then darted through the twisted halls and random holes in the wall to locate his missing niece.

Around him, he heard movement and the ground shook. Was that the mite Lunaris had mentioned? When he thought of mites, he thought of dust mites. Something told him his intuition on this was far off. The ground rumbled again and this time, rocked so violently that he was thrown off his feet. He cursed and struggled back to standing. He wasn't going to forsake her over a little moon-quake.

The next quake flung him into a wall. Or a big one. It didn't matter. Nothing was going to stand in his way. These Ducks don't back down and they weren't going to let a few setbacks get in their way.

* * *

Webby had managed to wrench off her gag, though the ropes were tied impressively tight. Lunaris's bodyguards or henchmen were nothing like as incompetent as the Beagle Boys. When she tried to wriggle her way out, sharp edges dug into her arms. They had embedded blades into the ropes. Or, rather, Lunaris had. Maybe she could use that to her advantage, although it meant getting cut to shreds in the meanwhile.

The steel she was attached to fell over as a monstrous creature shook the moon. She looked up and then up again. A creature with two front prongs that glowed golden stood over her and opened its mouth wide. This, it had to be, was the moon mite.

* * *

Scrooge McDuck was out of plans and out of options, but that didn't mean he was giving up. He was never going to back down. After having lost radio contact with his family, however, and knowing that one of the Lil Bulbs must've been confiscated, he was at a loss. Mrs. Beakley, Manny, and Duckworth were there, though the latter was of no real use. Scrooge didn't plan on dying any time soon and he certainly wasn't going to go down instead of up.

Mrs. Beakley stared at the Lil Bulb copy she carried. "Mr. McDuck, we haven't heard anything from the kids or Della in five hours."

"We cannae-" he started and then stopped, sighing. "We cannae be sure that something didnae befall Lil Bulb. Maybe they're all right."

"No, Mr. McDuck, they're not," she said quietly. "I can tell."

"Well, what in the blazes do ye expect me to do about it? We're outgunned, outnumbered, and outplanned. I'm trying to think of something that donnae involve a scenario Lunaris already plotted out."

Mrs. Beakley's beak pursed. She glanced down at Lil Bulb. Her forehead was wrinkled and she looked disconcerted.

"The kids are okay," he said, including Della in that grouping. "They have to be. I cannae think of anything else."

A loudspeaker boomed, startling them.

"Attention, Scrooge McDuck. I have your children," Lunaris proclaimed. "And if you care at all about them, you might want to find transportation up to the moon."

Scrooge and the others darted outside to find a bigger than life hologram outside.

"My moonlanders are securing Earth, but I thought the moon might be a better staging ground. The enemy should never be allowed to pick their field of battle."

"So if you want to see Della, Donald, and the triplets again, you might want to arrive soon."

"What about Webby?" Mrs. Beakley asked. Her voice was strained.

"Oh, the girl?" Lunaris said in an offhand voice, unconcerned. "She's probably dead by now. I'll be seeing you, Scrooge McDuck."

Mrs. Beakley roared, lunging at the projection but achieving nothing. She turned her heated gaze onto Scrooge.

"He was bluffing," Scrooge said, despite the weight that had fallen into his stomach.

"He had better be," Mrs. Beakley said quietly, coldly. "Or what he's planning for Earth will look like a vacation when I'm done with him."


	3. Fait Accompli

Chapter Three: Fait Accompli

_fait accompli: a thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept it._

* * *

Webby struggled, remembering belatedly that there were chains about the ropes. Thorns raked her arms and legs, including where the laser had wounded her. She screamed in pain but continued fighting. If she could get the sharp iron inserts to cut the rope, that would leave only the chains to deal with. Panicking wouldn't help and she tried to push the pain into the back of her mind. It wouldn't help to dwell on it.

On the plus side, maybe, her blood was making the ropes slick and loosening her bindings.

"Webby!"

"Donald?" Webby called back. She'd cut through her ropes, but the moon mite was sniffing around the metal to which she was attached. Her heart pounded and her eyes were huge. She didn't dare breathe too loudly now for fear she might agitate the mite. (In what sense was that a _mite_? It was huge.)

The boys' uncle appeared on the scene, along with five guards. Meanwhile, for some reason, the mite was hesitating, nosing around Webby but not taking the bait. Webby smiled weakly at it.

"Hi," she said quietly. "I'm Webby."

The mite didn't speak; it probably didn't have that capacity. Sweat trickled down her neck. Donald hesitated too, eyeing the guards and then the mite. The way Della had reacted earlier, Webby wasn't expecting this standstill.

"Who are you?" Webby asked in a weak voice. She had managed to free her arms by now.

The mite continued circling her as if it were trying to work out something. It made an unhappy noise.

The moonlanders primed their laser guns and the mite growled, standing in front of her, almost as if it were protecting her. Behind her, she heard more shuffling and a smaller mite surfaced. It looked like it could've been the dust mite's child. Suddenly, it dawned on Webby why the moon mite wasn't attacking her.

"Do we shoot the mite?" one of the moonlanders asked in a high-pitched, terrified voice. "It might kill us."

"You heard our orders!" the second moonlander countered.

"But they make no sense!" the first one protested. "Yes, the girl attacked our guards, but that was after we attacked her. She was defending herself!"

The third moonlander spoke up. "I thought we were supposed to be the good guys, defending against the evil Earthers."

"But she's a child!" the first one said.

"Maybe their children are savages," the third moonlander said. He sounded uncertain, however. The guards faltered, looking at each other and then at Webby.

"We're the good guys, right?" the third moonlander insisted.

"No, you're not!" Donald snapped, interjecting and rushing over to Webby. The moon mite hissed, spitting acid near him. It ate through the rock and singed his tail feathers. He sputtered in indignation and pain.

"You're the bad guys!" Donald snapped. "You kidnapped me, threw me in a cell, and after I escaped, you kidnapped my entire family and brought them here as captives! Now you're going to kill a child!"

The moonlanders looked quizzical.

"What did he say?" the moonlanders queried. "I can't understand him."

The moon mite spun around, putting its back to the threat the guards posed, and nudged at the chains binding Webby. It tugged them off of her and then, once she was separated from the piece of metal, it dragged that away. It didn't, however, move too far, as if it sensed Webby was still in danger.

Donald rushed forward again and Webby spoke up to keep him from being devoured or attacked again.

"Stop! Donald's not trying to hurt me! He's trying to help!" Webby said.

The moon mite, if it had had eyebrows, would have raised them in skepticism. Despite lacking facial features, the creature managed to portray incredulity rather well. Meanwhile, the baby mite cried and the moon mite tossed its treat over to the baby.

Donald scrambled over to Webby and held her out at arm's length to inspect her. Although the moon mite was permitting him to be near her, it kept a wary eye on Donald. It then spun about again, one eye on Donald and the other on the guards, none of whom seemed inclined to shoot it. Just in case, it spat out more acid to deter them. The moonlanders howled, breaking rank and running.

"Are you okay?" Donald asked.

Webby wasn't sure how to answer that. She was bleeding from a thousand small cuts and was a little woozy, plus she couldn't stand on her own two feet thanks to the laser shot to her leg. Finally, she shook her head but didn't elaborate. She figured Donald was worried about the boys, having left them in Della's custody.

"Let's get you back," Donald said and then frowned. "We need to get Della and the boys out and back to Earth."

He scooped her up in his arms and she draped her arms about his neck. The moon mite nodded and it and its descendent disappeared into the tunnels. Slowly, Donald made his way back up to the surface. Now that the immediate danger had passed, Webby was full of questions about the boys and Della, but her tongue felt heavy, as did her head. She wasn't sure how much blood she'd lost, only that she was having problems keeping everything straight in her head.

"Why did you come for me?" Webby managed after five quiet minutes had passed.

"You're part of the family," Donald said. "Even if Uncle Scrooge doesn't think you are, I do. You're an honorary Duck."

Webby beamed.

"And no one gets left behind," Donald added. "No matter what."

An explosion rocked the surface of the moon once they reached it and Webby's head lulled against his shoulder. They glanced in the explosion's direction-it appeared to be coming from the guardhouse/holding cells. Okay, that was _not _good. Not in the slightest.

"Aw...phooey," Donald said.

* * *

"Great job, Dewey," Huey hissed as they accidentally set part of the cells ablaze instead of freeing themselves. Dewey had tried what he'd done when they'd first landed in the Duckburg piers, namely attempting to hotwire the houseboat. This time, he'd tried hotwiring one of the guns someone had so kindly left in their cell and it had exploded.

"Hey, you're the brains. I don't know what I'm doing," Dewey said. "But at least our arms and hands are free now, right?"

"Great," Louie interjected. "So we can _crawl _away from the explosions you cause."

"No more setting things on fire," Della ordered. She was worried about Webby and Donald. She didn't know how long they'd been gone, seeing as she couldn't check a watch or phone, but it felt like an eternity. The boys hadn't done anything productive aside from freeing their extremities; they were working on getting their legs and feet free too and helping her in the process.

But the gun had exploded away from them into the hall. That wasn't helpful. Dewey didn't know what they expected from him. He couldn't work miracles. He could barely work anything complicated without it blowing up in his face. Literally, as the case might be.

"It's safe to say Lunaris isn't paying attention to us," Huey surmised. "If he had been, he would've come right over."

"He's probably busy with Uncle Scrooge," Louie reasoned and then grimaced. "Considering that all of his plans have been busted so far, I don't really have much confidence in Uncle Scrooge right now."

Della didn't say anything. She scanned the room and tried to see whether there were any angles she might have missed. After Donald's escape, the guards had converged to prevent them from fleeing the same way. Then there'd been another firefight, followed by Dewey wasting their one laser gun, and now this. Della chewed the inside of her beak. There had to be something she'd overlooked. Had to be.

It took her a minute to realize what was so odd about her situation. They were behind bars, sure, and there was a massive hole behind them letting in cold air that pricked her feathers. The explosion had sent the guards running for cover...and they hadn't returned.

"Did they really just leave us unattended?" Louie said, reaching the same conclusion.

"It sure looks that way," Della said. "C'mon, kids. Let's get out of here while we still can."

"Not so fast," a guard announced. He had scorch marks on his uniform, but Della was relieved to see no serious injuries had developed. She would've felt bad about that, regardless of what they were doing now.

"You're not going anywhere," the guard rejoined. He was a chubby moonlander with a few snatches of white hair and Della thought she recognized him. Then again, a lot of them looked rather similar, so maybe not.

"And you're going to stop all of us?" Dewey countered.

The guard squeezed off a shot and Dewey ducked, using the opportunity to run out of the cell. Under cover of badly aimed blasts, they fled. Della wasn't sure whether they were poor shots or were deliberately avoiding hitting them. Surely they didn't hate her that much. She had no idea what Lunaris had said to instigate such rage on their part, but she would never have betrayed them. And now was not the time to deliberate. She ushered her children ahead of her as they dashed across the inhospitable moon surface.

"Prisoners have escaped! Prisoners have escaped!" the guard screamed behind them and Della picked up the pace. She had missed how fast she could run in the low gravity. She fairly flew, scooping up Louie to avoid him lagging behind the others. She owed him an apology, but he owed her one too. Again, not the time.

"How long do you think we have before they're on our tails?" Dewey asked, run jumping across the surface. "This is fun!"

He bounced. "Hey, Mom, was it like this when you were stranded here?"

"In between worrying about getting killed by a giant moon mite, the heartbreaking loneliness, the fear I'd never get home, and missing you boys, yes," Della answered.

"Oh. Right," Dewey said, sounding abashed.

"I see something running toward us," Huey announced after a few minutes of silence had passed. Her reply to Dewey had rendered the boys mute. Her heart pounded when she saw Donald's jaunty hat and she beamed.

"Donald!" she cried.

"Della!" he cried. "Boys!"

"Webby!" Dewey exclaimed, spying Webby clinging to Donald. She was covered in blood and while Della hoped that it wasn't hers, she feared it was. Della stopped, gathering the boys close to her. Donald had guards chasing after him and she did too. Without the _Spear _to hide in, she didn't know where they were going to go to avoid pursuit. Still, she was glad to see Webby was relatively all right and aside from looking enraged, Donald was okay too.

Della counted their opposition. Ten. Webby couldn't fight, but she, Donald, and the boys could. That made the odds two to one. She'd faced worse odds. Of course, she'd faced better odds too. Maybe she could still talk to them. They looked uneasy spying Webby's condition.

"Stop!" Della implored the guards. "I don't know why you're attacking us, but we're not the enemy!"

"You came here as part of the first wave of Earth invaders," one of the guards spat, though they did all halt. Della's heart pounded hard in her chest. "Lunaris warned us about you. You're a liar."

"I'm not a liar," Della protested. "I just wanted to get back to my kids. I didn't mean to leave you guys here. I couldn't fit all of you in my ship."

"Excuses," that same moonlander sneered. He pointed a pike at Della and then looked at the children. Della had an idea; it was crazy, but she was out of sane ideas.

"Why would we put our children at risk if we were invading?" Della asked quietly. "In all the time I've been on the moon, I've never seen yours. You were protecting them from me. We wouldn't have willingly put our kids in harm's way, same as you wouldn't."

The moonlanders were at a loss. They glanced from Webby, bleeding in Donald's arms, to the boys standing near their mother, and then at Louie in his mother's arms. Louie jumped out and then, due to the low gravity, nearly faceplanted. He caught himself at the last minute.

"I love my kids. Don't you love yours?" Della continued. "Wouldn't you do anything to keep them from harm?"

"When you first came here, you weren't with children," another moonlander snapped.

"Because I got stranded through a cosmic storm," Della explained. "I didn't mean to land here. I didn't mean to land anywhere-I was just taking the _Spear of Selene _out for a test run."

"A ten year long test run," Louie grumbled and Huey smacked him.

They were wavering. She could feel it. Donald opened his beak and she held up her hand. With people who had been around him their whole lives, they still had problems understanding him. Donald's words could be interpreted as anything and had been. She knew he was upset, but she had the situation under control.

"Are we...the bad guys?" one of the moonlanders asked.

Although the boys wanted to snap something, they held their tongues, for which Della was grateful. She could feel a sarcastic remark threatening to escape Louie's beak; she didn't know him that well, nowhere near as well as Donald did, but in some ways, Louie was closest to her in personality.

"No," Della said softly. "You're just trying to protect what's yours and keep other people from hurting you. That doesn't make you bad. But you have the wrong information. Lunaris lied to you.

"Think about it," she implored. "If we were the bad guys, then why did Lunaris lock up Penumbra?"

"Because she's a traitor," a third moonlander snapped. He didn't look convinced by Della's arguments. "You can't be buying this. She's lying to you to buy time for an escape. We know our mission."

Della's heart sank a little. She didn't need naysayers now. They could unravel this whole plan.

"And I know your hearts," Della pressed.

One of their comms crackled to life.

"What happened to the prisoners?" demanded Lunaris in a low, warning tone.

One brave soul dared to speak up. "Are we attacking children? Are we really making war on children, sir?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Lunaris snapped. "The children are complicit."

"The moon mite protected the girl," that same soul argued.

"And the moon mites are our enemies," Lunaris snapped. "It makes sense that they would band together."

In the distance, dust rose. Della stifled an incredulous laugh. The moon mite, along with its baby, were heading in their direction. Salvation of a sort. See, you do one good deed and it'll reward you eventually.

"The moon mite was protecting her baby," Della said. "And trying to feed it. The moon mite must've seen Webby as my baby."

She beamed at Webby, who unfortunately wasn't conscious.

"Capture them!" Lunaris snapped. "Why are you letting them walk about unencumbered?"

To Della's shock, the person with the comm ripped it off their belt and stomped it underfoot until it was crushed. He looked up at Della and his eyes were determined.

"What's really going on?" he asked softly. "And which one of you is telling the truth?"


	4. Mutually Assured Destruction

Chapter Four: Mutually Assured Destruction

_Mutual(ly) assured destruction (MAD)_ is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender (see the pre-emptive nuclear strike and second strike).

* * *

"I took the Spear of Selene for a quick test run," Della started, aware of everyone's eyes upon her. Webby was stirring in Donald's arms and Della squeezed her boys tightly to her. Enough people had been hurt today. She couldn't stand seeing another of her children hurt.

"A cosmic storm struck me down," she continued. The moonlanders were watching her warily, but at least she had their attention. "I lived on the moon for ten years and never encountered anyone until I stumbled into Lunaris and Penumbra.

"All the time I was here, I wanted to return to my babies. I just wanted to be there for them and it was killing me that I couldn't. But I thought they at least had my videos. And their uncles."

She swallowed hard. "Never mind that. I'm not part of the first wave of an invasion. People on Earth have no idea that the moonlanders are here. The moon goddess doesn't even know you're here. I swear on my life that I didn't mean to come here and I would never hurt any of you."

The gazes pinning her to the spot left her dry-mouthed and sweating. Donald put a hand on her shoulder and Webby hopped out of his arms. She swayed, the blood loss getting to her, and Huey and Dewey steadied her. She smiled at them and Della could tell Huey was cataloging Webby's injuries and determining the best way to treat them.

"That's not what Lunaris said," one of the moonlanders said stubbornly. "He said that your brother is part of the second wave. That you came to spy for Earth and then returned, without us, because your mission was complete."

"Look at Donald," Della said. "Does he look capable of waging an interplanetary war?"

"Hey!" Donald objected. "I was in the navy!"

"And I'm sure you did a great job," she said, attempting to smooth over his ruffled ego, but knowing they had far more important things to discuss. She turned back to the moonlanders.

"If you sent out all of those broadcasts, then how come no one from the Earth rescued you?" that same contrary moonlander asked.

"I don't-I don't know," Della admitted, shame-faced. "I figured they just swept the moon and kept missing me."

"I have a theory," Huey said and the others turned to look at him. "What if Lunaris was intercepting your messages? And your distress signals? And using them as a way to gain information about Earth? It would explain how he's so knowledgeable about it."

"He has a secret war room prepared just for attacking Uncle Scrooge and the boys," Donald added and growled, anger mounting. She could feel his anger and she shared it, but now was not the time to give into it. If being trapped on the moon had taught her anything, it was that sometimes, you needed patience. And also, sometimes, appearances were not what they seemed. The moon mite had proved that today.

"What did he say?" one of the moonlanders said and Della sighed.

"They really can't understand you?" Della asked and Donald shook his head.

"Nobody but you can completely understand me," Donald said.

Della felt a pang of sympathy followed by guilt. She'd abandoned him. But, hey, look what a great job he'd done raising the boys without her. And Uncle Scrooge. Again, not the time to get into that.

Of course, she realized she couldn't keep compartmentalizing everything. Sooner or later, this would come back to haunt her. The way her luck was running today, it'd be sooner rather than later.

"He said that Lunaris has a private war room prepared for attacking my uncle and my kids," Della said. "Doesn't that sound more like the actions of a warmonger than someone like me, who just happened to land here and get stranded? Why would I willingly spend ten years of my life without my boys and alone if I'd known the moon had a vast population and the materials I needed to rebuild my rocketship?

"Please," she implored. "You know that Lunaris isn't making any sense. You don't have any proof of what he's saying beyond his words."

"We don't have any proof of what you're saying either," a moonlander retorted and Della's heart sank. She'd thought, for a second, that they'd believed her. To her surprise, Donald was shaking his head too. He also looked determined and like he had an idea. Back when they'd been together on Earth and in sync, she used to have an idea of what he was thinking. Due to their separation, she had lost that.

"I'll show you the war room!" Donald declared.

"What did he say?" the moonlander demanded.

"Oh, for Peter's sake, you really can't understand him?" Della snapped, patience wearing thin. "No, look, never mind. Just follow him, okay?"

They trooped along, the boys taking turns to help Webby walk. She'd lost a prodigious amount of blood and Della was worried about her. Still, she was a trooper and she'd been raised by Agent 22, so she had to be capable of taking care of herself to a certain extent. That didn't mean she was untouchable, as Lunaris had pointed out.

Her anger simmered. What right did that jerk have to put a poor, defenseless child out against the elements in the hopes that a moon mite might eat her?

She did not want to be here. She did not want to relive her isolation again. She didn't want to see the kids hurt because of her or Uncle Scrooge. What if she were stuck on the moon this time for good? What if she'd condemned the kids to it too?

Her chest grew tight and she felt a panic attack coming on. They'd been far less frequent before crashing here, but since her isolation, they'd increased. She thought she might be able to stave it off, but she didn't know for how much longer she could keep it together. She was shaking.

"Mom, are you okay?" Dewey asked and Della smiled, a fractured smile that made Dewey skid closer to his brothers.

"Fine!" she said in a too bright voice. "Why wouldn't I be? I'm with my family. Stuck on the moon. Again. With people who think we're out to kill them and they want to be sure to kill us first. I spent ten years trying to get off the moon and now I'm stuck here again and no one knows we're here, just like last time."

She could feel her smile turning into a rictus grin. "Why wouldn't I be fine?"

"Maybe we should talk about this?" Huey said and Della turned toward him.

"I'm fine. I'm gonna keep it together," she promised him.

"Uh…" Louie hesitated. "You kinda look like you're about to snap."

"I'm fine, I told you!" she roared and the kids jumped.

"Maybe we should leave your mom alone for a while," Webby said.

One more straw and not only would the camel's back break, but she thought her whole world would come crumbling down with it. She was holding onto her sanity by an increasingly thin thread and it was fraying. Donald glanced back at her in consternation and she shook her head. She didn't trust herself to speak again. Her throat had constricted and she was close to tears. One step in front of the other. One minute at a time. One hour at a time. One day at a time. Couldn't think too far in the future. Couldn't afford to envision herself here. Again. Forever.

They reached the war room and Donald, still looking uncertain and worried, activated it. Images of the McDuck/Duck family, along with the boys, all of Scrooge's enemies, and locations on a map of the Earth appeared. Donald leaned against a switch and a video played. It was her, telling the boys about an adventure she'd had as a bedtime story.

And that was it. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. The one load too many that she simply couldn't bear any longer. She crashed to her knees and tears streaked her cheeks.

"Not again, no. I can't do this again. I can't be by myself again. I can't do this. I can't, I can't, I can't," Della whispered. Huey was tending to Webby now, Dewey had gone over to Donald, but Louie was here. She turned to him and the guilt threatened to eat her alive.

"I'm so sorry, Louie," she whispered. "I shouldn't have yelled at you before. But do you see why now? I wanted to spare you this. And you're here anyway. And we're all here. And I failed. I tried to keep you boys from danger, from being stranded here, and you are. We all are."

"Mom, it's okay," Louie said.

"No, it's not," she snapped and regretted it. "It's not. I thought if I could just stay away from the moonlanders if I could just stay out of the way of everyone, that I'd be all right. And I'm not. I wasn't prepared for this. For any of this. All my life here, I imagined returning to you. I never imagined that I'd be trapped here again."

"You're not trapped," Louie said. He smiled at her. "You're the one who's supposed to see all the angles, right? So what are you missing?"

"You tell me," she said with a broken laugh. "You're better than I am at this stuff."

And she'd become paralyzed with fear. This was slowly but surely crushing her.

"Wait," he implored and, swallowing past a hard lump in her throat, she looked around. What was she supposed to be waiting for? A radio crackled, the video turned off, and after static, a familiar voice filled the air. Louie wrapped his arms around her. It was odd for a child to be comforting his mother, but maybe, maybe they needed each other at that moment.

"Della?" Scrooge called.

"Uncle Scrooge!" Della choked out. This was entirely too familiar for her liking.

"Della? Kids?" Scrooge asked.

"We're all here," Huey replied.

"Webby?" Mrs. Beakley's voice sounded strained and Della wondered what Lunaris had told them to make them so frantic.

"I'm here, too, Granny," Webby said.

"Oh, thank goodness," Mrs. Beakley said in a harsh exhale. "I was so worried. That...that…"

She paused, overwrought, and Della smiled weakly. She knew to whom Mrs. B was referring and she didn't doubt she was trying to censor her tongue to keep from cursing in front of the children. It was okay. Della felt the same way.

"That cruel mastermind?" a malicious voice called. "The man who is going to finally topple Scrooge McDuck once and for all?"

They turned and Della's heart sank again. Lunaris strolled into his war room.

"Did you really think someone else could get in here without tipping me off?" he sneered. "At least we're all together here. That should make this much easier."

"Make what easier?" Scrooge spat.

"Why, the rest of my plan," Lunaris said. "You have fifteen years to reach the moon or I will kill your family. Oh, and you can curse your kilts all you want-it won't change a thing."

He rounded on the Earthlings. "Capture them again. Do we really have to go through this?"

"No," a moonlander said and, to Della's shock, more followed. "No. We're not your puppets any more."

"You can't believe a word that liar said," Lunaris objected.

"Yes, we can," another moonlander said, stepping forward. "You can't stop all of us, either. And we'll let other people know too. You can't keep pushing us around, Lunaris. And you can't force us to hurt innocent children."

"They're not innocent!" Lunaris scoffed. Della sensed that his tenuous grip on the situation was fading. "You've heard what I said! They're only here to gain intelligence to use against us for their invasion force!"

"I don't think so," a woman moonlander said coldly. She was slim, almost a wisp of a moonlander, with white hair that fell down to her waist. "I think you're the one who's been lying."

Della trembled. She felt like this was the moment in the movie when the villain's plans were laid bare and all of his former allies turned on him. She'd cheer, but she knew that Lunaris had to have a back-up plan for this. Or a contingency. He did, didn't he?

She'd forgotten that the communication was still open and that Uncle Scrooge, Mrs. B, and whoever else was with them would hear this.

The moonlanders gathered around Lunaris, but not to help him. No, they pointed their laser guns at him and Louie whistled appreciatively. Della stared at him.

"What do you know?" he said, half admiring. "A coup."


	5. FUBAr

Chapter Five: FUBAR

Fubar: out of working order; seriously, perhaps irreparably, damaged  
(Acronym for fouled up/f-ed up beyond all recognition.

* * *

"You can't do this," Lunaris objected, glowering at his soldiers. "You can't betray me. She's lying to you. You can't believe her."

He straightened, attempting to regain his composure and assert himself. He stood with his back straight, shoulders tucked, and glared at the soldiers before him. True, they'd never been soldiers before and they weren't necessarily trained the way he'd been, but that didn't mean they shouldn't be diligent. Also, it really ticked him off that Della threatened to unravel his whole scheme.

"Listen," Della said and she sounded like she was at the end of her rope. Lunaris was not amused. Why was the child not dead yet? He stepped forward, cape billowing in the non-existent wind that nonetheless trailed him, and approached Webbigail. The boys jumped in front of her, but before they could get off a threat, he found himself facing down Donald and Della. Their eyes blazed with anger and Lunaris scoffed, unimpressed.

"Why would we let anything happen to our kids? We wouldn't," Della added.

"Enough," Lunaris said. "Anyone who sides with the traitor, Della Duck, will be found guilty of insubordination and collaboration with the enemy and will be executed."

A tense silence followed. No one knew quite what to say to that pronouncement. Lunaris smiled thinly, humorlessly. The group had frozen, none of them sure what to do, either. They were probably weighing their options and trying to decide whether he was serious.

"You can't kill all of us!" one of the moonlanders said.

"Can't I?" he returned in a silky tone. He raised his laser and aimed at no one in particular. If they were stupid enough to get in the way of his shot, then that was their hard luck. While he was blasting, however, he took his eyes off the Duck family. That proved to be a mistake when he found himself flying backward with Della Duck growling at him from atop his chest.

"You are turning into quite the little problem," Lunaris growled.

"And you are trying to turn my kids into moon mite food!" she countered.

"Clearly, Webbigail is still alive," Lunaris said smoothly. "So the moon mite must've found her unpalatable."

Della unleashed a string of profanity that prompted her twin to attempt to cover all the children's ears at once. She punched Lunaris in the face and he spun about, twisting her arm about her back. She struggled, kicking him with both her normal foot and her metal one. He wasn't about to tell her that the metal one hurt a great deal more. He didn't want to give her ideas.

"Let go of my mom!" Dewey said, latching onto Lunaris and jumping up to hit him. Lunaris backhanded him, but in doing so, released Della. Della snarled, pawing the ground with her mechanical foot. He had the feeling she was seeing red. Meanwhile, the moonlanders hadn't done anything.

"Your commander is under direct threat!" he snapped. "I've just finished telling you that the Earthlings are not to be trusted and see? They're attacking me! Utterly unprovoked!"

"Unprovoked?" Della repeated in a low, dangerous tone. "Unprovoked? You hit my son and tried to kill his best friend."

The moonlanders finally mobilized, half-standing before Lunaris and pointing their lasers at Della and her family. The other half, to Lunaris's amazement, grouped themselves by Della and company. It was a stand-off. Lunaris hadn't anticipated this, but the ones siding with the Duck family seemed to be wavering. He ought to be able to exploit their doubts.

"I created this war room to keep an eye on the very real menace I sensed from Earth," Lunaris said in unctuous tones. "I knew that the Earthlings would send someone here to investigate and I was right, wasn't I? She claims she crashed here and was trapped here for ten years, but think of all the intelligence she's gained in that time. And think of the fact that when the ship next returned, it brought her brother. Do you really believe that to be a coincidence?"

He could sway them back. He knew it.

Della was beyond infuriated. He could see it in her eyes, although the laser guns trained on her had made her leery of attacking him. At least, that's what he thought. She sprang anyway, murder in her eyes, and Donald tackled her before one of the laser shots found her heart. Lunaris chuckled; he was darkly amused. Yes, this was the kind of game he enjoyed playing.

He didn't know what had transpired with the moon mite but never mind that.

"The Earth girl used her wiles to get the moon mite to resist her," Lunaris continued.

"The moon mite didn't eat her because one, moon mites don't eat people, and two, Webby is a kid," Della said, exasperated. "I saved the moon mite's kid so she saved mine. That's how it works, at least with people who are clearly not deranged!"

"I'm not deranged," Lunaris said calmly, though inside he was seething. At least he could keep playing this off for a while until Scrooge and the others reached the moon. That was when his final plans could fall into place.

"Says the psychopath," Dewey said. His cheek was red where Lunaris had struck him. If Della's murderous glare wasn't enough, Huey and Louie looked homicidal. Webby might've appeared that way if she hadn't lost too much blood. Lunaris smirked at her and Webby's look could've seared him if she'd had magic.

"You have no proof that the moon mite saved Webbigail because of a theory," Lunaris sneered. "You assume that moon mites can think that deeply. I don't agree."

"I saved the moon mite's baby," Della said, her voice thick with disgust. "You saw that. You were there. How can you say something like that?"

"Because it's true," he said. The conversation was shifting back to him and all the better for that. "Gather them up. Scrooge McDuck will be here any minute now and we want to lay out the welcome wagon."

"You're not putting us back in captivity," Della growled. "Not again. Not ever."

Lunaris's side of moonlanders advanced and the others formed a tight circle around the Earthlings. This was getting tedious. Did they really fear him that little? He waded in and noticed that the closer he got, the more the soldiers' hands trembled on their laser guns. They dropped them and backed off.

He laughed and Della decked him in the face again. Lunaris snapped his fingers and the laser guns aimed at her. The ones on his side were back to threatening the Earthlings. The others were staying out of the way.

"You can't let him push you around," Della argued. "You have to stand up for yourselves!"

"You mean they have to stand up for you," Lunaris scoffed. "I grow tired of hearing you argue. Put them in more secure holdings and keep them separated."

Before he had a chance to see his orders carried out, a gasping, overweight and overwrought soldier arrived before him. He panted, hands on his knees, and took a minute to catch his breath. Lunaris glowered, irritated.

"Yes?" he demanded once the messenger was finished with his pathetic display of physical unfitness.

"It's Penumbra," he said. "She's escaped."

"Go Penny!" Della hooted.

Did things really have to go from bad to worse? He didn't know what Penumbra had in mind, but now he needed to find her. The Earthlings could wait. Or could they? He didn't know. He hadn't planned for this contingency either. He cursed in his mind.

"Take them away," Lunaris decided. "And if you cowards are done shirking your duties, find Lieutenant Penumbra. Now."

"Penny will find us," Della warned. Her eyes glowed with hatred. "And she'll stop you."

"She's not that much of a traitor," Lunaris said, though as he did, he wondered. He really needed to stop responding to her, but Della had gotten under his skin. He wished the moon mite had destroyed Webbigail. Frustration seethed within him. Would nothing go right today?

Another explosion, reminiscent of the one that had transpired within the holding cells earlier, drew his attention away yet again. Lunaris wanted to throttle something. What the devil was going on now?

It looked like two ships had arrived on the moon and one of them had not only crashed but done so in a blaze of fire and heat that shouldn't be possible on the moon. For a moment, Lunaris was dumbstruck. Who on the moon could have orchestrated that? And who was foolish enough to crash into the moon on purpose?

Smoke billowed from the crater where one of the ships had careened into the surface.

"Launchpad!" the Earthlings exclaimed and Della smiled.

"I didn't think I'd ever be happy to see that guy crash a ship, but...here we go," Della said.

"I just hope that wasn't our ride going home," Huey said.

"You're not going anywhere!" Lunaris hissed. How had they gotten here so fast? Then again, their ships didn't operate the same as the moon ships did. And perhaps Scrooge McDuck had access to time-bending technology. That could've cut short the travel time.

"No one is going anywhere," Lunaris continued. "You are all my prisoners."

His eye was beginning to swell shut. "And you will be very sorry in a few minutes."

"Yeah, I don't see that happening," Dewey said and Lunaris glowered at him with his good eye. He was starting to wish he'd hit him harder. Perhaps something of that showed on his face because Webby straightened up and glared maliciously at him.

"Just as soon as Scrooge McDuck gets here," he promised. 

* * *

Scrooge McDuck stood on the moon's surface with his cane in his hands. He leaned on it, not because he needed to, especially in the lower gravity, but because he liked the effect. He chewed Oxy-Chew (blech, black licorice), and stared out along the horizon. The kids could be anywhere. Might as well start somewhere and hope that conflagration had distracted the moonlanders. He couldn't believe it'd been Flinty's plan. Then again, at least it didn't have to do with sharks again. Ugh.

In the distance, he thought he saw a large group of people with Lunaris at its head. He was willing to bet that that was where his family was. He also saw a lot of gleaming gold, which made him wonder if, in an alternate timeline, he might've needed that gold to win his bet with Glomgold. That was neither here nor now, but his atavistic side filed it away for future reference, regardless.

Behind him, Gyro, his clones, Mrs. Beakley, Lena, and Violet fanned out. While he hadn't wanted the children here, he couldn't deny that they would be useful. Lena and Violet, in particular, made a good team. And when they'd found out that Webby was stuck on the moon, they'd insisted on accompanying them.

He, er, hadn't told Violet's dads about this. Easier to beg forgiveness than to ask for forgiveness. Besides, the kids would be fine. They were always fine. There was nothing to worry about. Bah, hostile aliens? Been there, done that.

It weighed on him that he hadn't fulfilled his promise to Lena, but, like the golden ships, that meant nothing right now. He approached the group and stood there with his defenders fanning out. Lena's and Violet's gazes hooked onto Webby and Lena's amulet glowed pink; her eyes blazed.

"It's about time," Lunaris said. If he had been taken off guard by Scrooge's ahead of scheduled arrival, he didn't show it. Scrooge got the impression that very few things ruffled Lunaris's proverbial feathers.

"What do ye really want from me, Lunaris?" Scrooge snapped. "You have me family, ye're invasion of Earth is going to hell in a handbasket, and yet, you lured me here, to the moon. Why?"

"This?" Lunaris sneered, spreading his arms wide to indicate the vast terrain about them. "This will be your new home. I wanted you to get a good look at it. And I wanted you to see that I hold all the cards."

"Yer black eye says otherwise," Scrooge snorted. His gaze wandered over his family and anger filled him. Dewey. He wasn't sure which of the moonlanders had struck him, but it was obvious that someone had. Webby was covered in blood and while he wouldn't have normally thought it was her blood, the way she swayed and how pale she was told another story. Scrooge glowered at Lunaris.

"You've been attacking the children," Scrooge said in a low, dangerous voice. "Ye can attack me all you want, Lunaris. Ye can even threaten Earth. But don't you dare lay a finger on me family."

"They deserved it," Lunaris said, unrepentant. "That child attacked me and this one—" He indicated Webby. "Didn't have the decency to die."

Mrs. Beakley growled and Scrooge was tempted to let her rush off and attack him. If he was furious, then she was incandescent with rage. It radiated off her in waves and he shifted subtly to one side to avoid catching her eye. He'd seldom seen her so enraged. He was grateful it wasn't aimed at him.

"Too bad I can't say the same for you," Mrs. Beakley snarled. She moved forward and the moonlanders actually backed up. They parted for her and although a few of them looked to Lunaris for guidance, the rest stayed out of the way. That was the wisest choice, all told. Mrs. Beakley looked like she wanted to snap Lunaris's neck.

"Granny, I'm okay," Webby said. She might've been more convincing if her voice hadn't been so faint.

Lunaris nodded and the moonlanders tightened ranks around Beakley. Their weapons, however, vanished, turned into all matter of ephemeral animals. Lena and Violet advanced and although Lena didn't appear quite as furious as Mrs. Beakley, it was only a shade or two off. Oddly enough, she didn't remind him of Magica. Her rage was all her own.

"What are you waiting for?" Lunaris barked. "Shoot at him!"

"They appear to be short of weapons," Mrs. Beakley said coldly. She reached out to grab him by the throat and the moonlanders tackled her. She threw them off, roaring, and reminded him of a feral mother beast protecting its children. If she'd had magic, the sky would've been crackling with it.

More moonlanders jumped her and Lena, Violet, Gyro, and Fenton sprang into action. Scrooge waded into the fray, knocking about opponents with his cane. He smiled, grimly amused when the cane thunked into bone. He wasn't sure he'd broken anything, but he was restraining himself. The same could not be said of Mrs. Beakley. Despite the twenty or so moonlanders standing against them, Mrs. Beakley was determined to overthrow them, regardless of whether she inflicted any permanent injuries. She had eyes only for Lunaris.

Launchpad finally showed up and whatever he'd been about to say died on his lips. Scrooge paid him little attention—he had more important things to occupy his time. The moonlanders froze as one when Mrs. Beakley got her hands about Lunaris's throat. Scrooge knew that with a single flick of her wrist, she could snap his neck.

"Woah, Mrs. B," Launchpad said in awe.

"Granny, I'm okay!" Webby insisted. Her voice was tremulous and when her friends reached her, she hugged them tightly. Lena's eyes blazed pure hatred at Lunaris.

"You attacked my granddaughter with the intention of killing her," Mrs. Beakley growled. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't."

"You don't want to start an all-out war," Della said quietly. "I know you're angry. I'm angry too. But this would give them cause."

Mrs. Beakley sighed and, for a second, Scrooge feared his niece's warning had come too late. Then Mrs. Beakley released her grip on the moonlanders. Those that weren't sprawled out on the ground stepped away from her. Lena's grip tightened on Webby and her amulet glowed.

"Fine," she said. "But no one told me I couldn't do this—"

And winding her fist back, she decked Lunaris in the face. He crashed to the ground, unconscious. Scrooge knew that Lunaris had intended to make Earth suffer and become a satellite to the moon instead of the other way around. He also knew that without leading the forces on Earth, the resistance was falling apart. But that wasn't his primary concern right now.

"Beakley, tie him up," Scrooge ordered. "I have a few questions to ask." 

* * *

How very clever the Earthlings were. He hadn't reckoned on Della turning his crew against him or on how angry Mrs. Beakley would be. To be fair, he hadn't done his due diligence in reconnaissance on other, peripheral members of the household. He'd assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that Webby wouldn't pose a threat and her grandmother would stand down. Lunaris awoke, struggling in his ropes.

The moonlanders had permitted him to be captured and restrained. They had completely turned on him and rejoined Della. He felt betrayed, but, more than that, he felt that old hurt, the emptiness where sorrow was might have once flourished in a lesser man. It was the feeling of being told, as a child, that you were inferior and unwanted. That you were a mistake and you had to prove yourself otherwise. And he'd done that, hadn't he?

And then he'd wound up here. He noticed he wasn't gagged and spat. It landed a few inches away from Scrooge McDuck's feet.

"Why me?" Scrooge asked quietly. They appeared to be in Lunaris's war room, except it was only him and Scrooge. He couldn't see the others. His head pounded from Beakley's powerful swing and if anything, his vision had gotten worse. He suspected someone might have attacked him while he was unconscious.

"Why not you?" Lunaris countered. "You're the richest duck in the world."

"You're not in it for the money."

"If I can separate you from your family, make your family pay, then I rule Earth. And, more importantly, I rule you."

"Ye cannae rule me," Scrooge scoffed. "No one tells me what to do. Except maybe Beakley on occasion, but ye've seen her."

He smiled cruelly. "She has one heck of a backswing, doesn't she?"

Lunaris glowered. He heard the ship Launchpad had crashed still exploding. The rest of his military must've gone to investigate rather than helping him when he needed it. It'd been his fault keeping so few stationed here and he had no idea how the war on Earth was going. He'd thought that keeping the family secluded and on the moon would've weakened them. If anything, it seemed to have strengthened their bonds. Family was despicable.

He declined to answer Scrooge's obvious goading.

"There's more to it than that," Scrooge continued as if Lunaris's silence meant nothing. "Ye targeted me and my family. Tell me, did ye stop the broadcasts from coming out from the moon? And block all of Della's attempts to get rescued?"

Lunaris snorted. "I had to keep an eye on you and yours, to make sure everything was proceeding as it ought to. I couldn't take the chance that someone might discover what we were doing.

"Besides, you did rather well for yourself in the ten years Della was absent. You became a better businessman without your family than with it."

Scrooge glowered, but if he'd hoped to trick him into acting rashly, it hadn't worked.

"And what do you plan to do now, eh?" Scrooge sneered.

He'd had contingency plans set in motion for everything except this. He should've realized that Scrooge would have created a diversion. He'd known that Scrooge would do anything to save his family. That he'd been counting on. The other variables, not so much.

"Now?" Lunaris said, unperturbed. "I plan to wait. My moonlanders will return to me eventually."

"Eventually is a long time," he reminded him. "And a lot can happen."

He smiled, waving at him as he walked out the door. "I think some time to think about what ye've done will help."

"I'm not a child to be put in time-out!" Lunaris seethed.

"Aye, no, you're not," Scrooge agreed and his good humor faded. "Ye proved that. Ye'd kill a child if it served your purposes. You're despicable."

And with that, Scrooge left him alone in the shambles of his plans. He didn't know what happened to Penumbra, but it didn't matter. He was through. He'd have to start over from scratch and there'd be no element of surprise this time. He was fubar.


	6. Chapter 6

Epilogue: Mission Accomplished

"You're sure you're all right?" Violet asked and although she normally spoke in a deadpan voice, concern leaked through. Lena had become practically feral, glaring at any and all moonlanders that dared to set eyes upon Webby. The moonlanders, led by Della and Donald and assisted by Penumbra, had retreated and Della was telling them what Lunaris had done in detail now that the danger had passed. Mrs. Beakley was nowhere to be seen, presumably keeping herself from pummeling Lunaris into raw pulp.

Webby smiled weakly, relieved to see her friends alive and whole and a bit weak from blood loss. She'd probably need a transfusion once she reached Earth.

"I'm okay," Webby said. She smiled at Lena. "You've gotten better at your magic!"

"Fat load of good that did if they were going to try to feed you to a moon monster and I wasn't here," Lena snapped. Clearly, she was blaming herself for not being there. Webby reached out and held Lena's hand.

"The moon mite wasn't going to eat me," Webby soothed. "And anyway, everything's settled now. Della and Donald are talking the moonlanders down, Uncle Scrooge is getting information out of Lunaris, and Granny's...somewhere."

Lena smiled humorlessly. "Somewhere keeping herself from attacking Lunaris."

"Yeah...so...what was it like on Earth, fighting the moonlanders?" Webby asked. They were seated in the commissary and meek moonlanders, the ones that Lunaris hadn't outfitted for his army, prepared food. It smelled pretty good, although she couldn't venture to say what it was. She didn't know how they could prepare food here, with such an inhospitable atmosphere. Plus, the only meat source she'd seen had been the moon mite and she didn't want it to be her next meal.

"Adventurous," Violet answered and smiled at Webby. "As you said, Lena has learned how to harness her powers quite admirably. I dare say that if we hadn't been outnumbered, we would have laid them all low in record time."

"I still should've been with you and not with them," Lena muttered.

"Hey," Webby said quietly. "Hey. We're all right, aren't we?"

Lena muttered something Webby chose to ignore that sounded rather violent. Webby hugged her impulsively.

"It all worked out, anyway," Webby added. "So it doesn't matter."

"Tell that to Lunaris," Lena snorted.

* * *

His plans were in shambles. His soldiers and people had deserted him; they had chosen to stand with Della Duck instead. He'd never have another opportunity like this one. The moonlanders wouldn't trust him again. Even if he could start over, even if it were theoretically possible, the moonlanders considered him a war criminal. He had lost everything and, as usual, Scrooge McDuck not only survived, but flourished.

Scrooge McDuck was taking charge of the ships and the gold mines. He'd made a lucrative contract with the moonlanders and they were going to start shipping him gold in exchange for food and other supplies not readily available on the moon. It was enough to make Lunaris spit.

How had everything gone so wrong so quickly? What was he supposed to do now? What came next?

* * *

Della, as the Earth representative, had made a peace pact with the moon once everything was sorted out. If Uncle Scrooge hadn't already won the bet with that easy mission, then this definitely would've put him over the top. All in all, other than some temporary injuries, everything had worked out for the best.

Mrs. Beakley had calmed down, or, at least, if she hadn't completely regained her composure, she was no longer angry enough to spit nails. They were heading back for Earth and Lunaris was pending a criminal trial; after all, it wouldn't be fair to not allow him a defense, even if Della thought what he'd done was indefensible.

They'd be back for the trial to provide testimony. As for how the moonlanders intended to form the prosecution and jury, Della didn't know, nor did she particularly care at the moment. She was headed back home with her kids and everything was sorted out.

And hey, she had her brother back too. It wasn't like they had anything to complain about, right?

* * *

The members of FOWL looked on in disgust at Scrooge McDuck and his family. They'd turned a negative situation around 180 degrees and induced a profit for the company. Even so, this adventuring was cutting into profits. It was also starting to prove too distracting.

And members of FOWL had vendettas they wanted McDuck and his family to answer for. Who were the buzzards to interfere in that?

(Though they didn't know why Black Heron hadn't replaced her missing arm. That was just odd).

The upcoming financial year should be very interesting indeed.


End file.
